Mental Scars Run Deep Years After BP Spill: Op-Ed

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Matthew Lee is a professor of sociology and
associate vice chancellor in the Office of Research and Economic
Development at LSU and has been closely
involved in LSU's research response to the BP Deepwater Horizon
drilling disaster. He contributed this article to
LiveScience'sExpert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

It's been three years since the
Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico,
killing 11 workers and forever changing the way the world views
the Gulf Coast. While the $4 billion verdict against BP has
finally been handed down as justice for damages, it's not going
to help many of the people directly impacted by the spill's
impacts. It's time for a reminder of the long-term impacts
accompanying technological disasters — and for the development of
a better system for addressing the mental well-being of coastal
residents and their communities after these all-too-frequent
events.

As a sociologist in Louisiana, I've tracked the
status of these men, women and families — people who have
history in their geography, whose families have worked the same
jobs in the same places for generations. These people do hard,
back-breaking labor to provide our nation with seafood, oil and
gas. They maintain the largest port system in the world, and are
exposed to some of the worst hazards imaginable — hurricanes and
oil spills, just to scratch the surface.

Through our research, published this week in the journal Social
Science Research, my colleagues and I have demonstrated the deep
impact the spill had on coastal residents. We conducted the study
during the BP spill, several months after the well was capped,
and a year after the spill erupted, and we have documented how
stressful that event has been on the psyche of the affected
citizens.

Not surprisingly, households involved in the fishing industry
were particularly impacted, and unlike households employed in
other industries, their stress levels actually got worse over the
year following the event, not better. We know that a number of
factors affected the mental health of this population, but it is
safe to say that personal economic status was a top contributor.

There is a significant lesson to be learned here. Policymakers
who oversee disaster-relief efforts should be tuned in to the
fact that some groups — for example, those that make a living off
of natural resources and deal largely in cash-based economies —
will have recovery needs that are different from people in other
types of settings. "One size fits all" disaster relief packages
cannot possibly be efficient or effective in meeting the needs of
local communities that have unique cultural and ethnic histories,
different community-based resources or specific labor-force
configurations. [ Disaster
Laws: Will Gulf Oil Spill Change Anything? ]

Louisiana's coastal population is indeed one of a kind, but it is
a major contributor to our national economy. Our state provides
the largest fishing haul in the lower 48 states — a catch that
nets the United States more than $3 billion annually. As the top
producer of domestic oil, we also inject more than $70 billion in
energy profits into the economy each year. During these lean
financial times, such numbers cannot be ignored.

As the fishing households of coastal Louisiana remind us,
technological disasters don't affect all local residents equally,
and relief programs — which are supposed to help community
residents recover and move forward with their lives — have a
responsibility to remain flexible enough in their resource
allocation guidelines to be able to assist all those who have
been harmed. There needs to be a serious re-evaluation of the way
Louisiana's coastal communities — and others who have been
impacted by such disasters — are faring. Right now, they need
help — help specifically targeted to their needs.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.